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ImpactFinder Tool Helps Universities Measure the Impact of Research

Context and Overview: The Research Excellence Framework

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) is a new framework, to be completed in 2014, that the UK Higher Education Funding Councils will use to assess research quality at universities. The primary purpose of the REF is to assess each funding submission made by UK higher education institutions (HEIs), provide accountability for public investment in research, and produce evidence of the benefits of each investment.

In light of the challenges posed by the pending REF, RAND Europe and Ranmore Consulting Group are pleased to offer an analysis and advice package to support universities in their preparations and, crucially, to help them evaluate the impact of their research portfolios.

A New Tool to Measure Impact

We offer to support universities, or individual units of assessment (UoA), in

managing their research funding submission process

identifying case studies of impact, and

critically reviewing case studies or impact statements, and how they evidence impact

We provide support through a combination of workshops, a web-based survey tool, and ongoing communications and engagement. In each case, we work with the university or UoA to develop a comprehensive approach suitable for their needs and strategic challenges.

At the core of this advice package is the RAND Europe ImpactFinder tool — a proven methodology for identifying impactful research. The ImpactFinder methodology was developed initially for the Arthritis Research Campaign and is now used by a number of research funders.

The ImpactFinder provides an overview of research impact and a basis for more detailed examination of the ‘why and how’ of research translation. The tool is implemented as a web questionnaire and collects information across a range of social, cultural and economic impacts. A demonstration site, which is being used by universities that have agreed to take part in the pilot testing of the ImpactFinder, can be accessed at: http://demo.impactfinder.org/.

The resulting data are presented in ‘impact arrays’, which have been developed as a way to display the impacts of research and give an instant overview of the research portfolio. An example of an impact array is shown above: the columns represent different types of outputs and impacts, the rows different projects, and the colouring the intensity or geographic reach of an impact. The presentation of research impact in this way will provide the university with a valuable visual demonstration of impact across its entire research portfolio, as well as the means to select case studies for more in-depth qualitative analysis and begin to collate the evidence needed to demonstrate impact.

RAND Europe Reports about Measuring Research Impact

The following reports by RAND Europe staff helped with the development of the ImpactFinder. More information about REF2014 is available from the HEFCE website.

This work explores impacts of cardiovascular and stroke research funded 15-20 years ago and draws out aspects associated with high or low impact. It describes 29 case studies of grants from Australia, Canada and UK. Policy summary volume.

An international review of approaches to assessing the wider impact of research carried out for the Higher Education Funding Council for England. Examines Australian RQF, UK RAISS, US PART and Dutch ERiC framework.

A paper on the allocation challenges facing funders in the area mental health research. It provides an overview of research policy in the last 20-25 years and considers what approaches could build an evidence base to support future decisions.

This report describes the development of the RAND/ARC Impact Scoring System (RAISS), to map the diverse impacts of research funded by the Arthritis Research Campaign taking individual grants the tool is simple and quick for researchers to complete.

Researcher Spotlight

Research Leader

Catriona Manville is a research leader at RAND Europe, where she works in the area of innovation, health and science. Since joining RAND, she has been involved in and managed research, policy analysis and evaluation studies across the sectors of health and higher education. Her research clients…

Associate Research Group Director, RAND Europe

Molly Morgan Jones is an associate research group director with RAND Europe. She specialises in the governance of innovation, focussing in particular on biomedical and health technologies, and the evaluation of research impact, a field sometimes referred to as the 'science of science'. She also…